Exodus 6

6Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For ^awith a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand ^bhe will drive them out of his land.”

²And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am ¹the Lord. ^3cI appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ^dGod Almighty, but by My name ^eLord ²I was not known to them. ^4fI have also ³established My covenant with them, ^gto give them the land of Canaan, the land of their ⁴pilgrimage, ^hin which they were ⁵strangers. ⁵And ⁱI have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the children of Israel: ^j‘I am the Lord; ^kI will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will ^lrescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with ⁶an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷I will ^mtake you as My people, and ⁿI will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out ^ofrom under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you into the land which I ^pswore ⁷to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” ⁹So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; ^qbut they did not heed Moses, because of ^ranguish ⁸of spirit and cruel bondage.

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

¹²And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for ^sI am ⁹of uncircumcised lips?”

¹³Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a ^tcommand ¹for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Family of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: ^uThe sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. ^15vAnd the sons of Simeon were ²Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶These are the names of ^wthe sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^17xThe sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. ¹⁸And ^ythe sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. ^19zThe sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

²⁰Now ^aAmram took for himself ^bJochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him ^cAaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^21dThe sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²²And ^ethe sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. ²³Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of ^fAmminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him ^gNadab, Abihu, ^hEleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴And ⁱthe sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and ^jshe bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^karmies.” ³²⁷These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, ^lto bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron is Moses’ Spokesman

²⁸And it came to pass, on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. ^mSpeak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

³⁰But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, ⁿI am ⁴of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”